Postal kiosks are known devices whereby one is able to frank and then post mail in a convenient fashion. Such kiosks are designed to receive the mail, weigh the mail, inform the user as to the amount of postage due and upon user acceptance and payment dispense the postage. Most kiosks have convenience items such as currency and coin acceptors and coin changes. Recently, credit card slots and credit card charging mechanisms have been added to kiosks.
Current postal kiosks dispense postage by using special postal manufactured blank stamp stock and a dot matrix printer to fill in the postal amount or postal value desired by the user of the kiosk. To insure the fiscal integrity of the blank stamp stock, the United States Postal Service is currently holding each kiosk owner to value each unaccounted for stamp at $99.99. This frequently causes the kiosk owner many problems. For instance: the kiosk owner has to account for every stamp; the kiosk owner has to secure the stamps against theft or damage; and the kiosk owner has to account for stamps used during testing and maintenance of the kiosk. The foregoing process is expensive and error prone.
In order to partially compensate kiosk owners for providing the above service to the public, the United States Postal Service has been offering discounted postage, that varies with postal value, to the owner of the kiosk. Originally, this postal discount was for mechanical vending machines that dispensed stamps. Currently, the postal discount applies to franking machines. A postal meter or franking machine does not need to use United States Postal Service preprinted blank stamp stock. Thus, the inclusion of a postage meter or franking machine in a kiosk will solve the problems enumerated above. However, franking machines treat customers postage as a lump sum and do not store the postal transactions into various categories so that postal discounts may be calculated. Thus, a franking machine may not be simply included in a kiosk without some modification.